Advocacy

Senator Patrick Leahy and Congressman Peter Welch joined representatives from the Vermont Legislature, housing advocates, and many other supporters in downtown Montpelier on Tuesday at a groundbreaking ceremony for the French Block affordable housing project. The project, which is a joint effort between Housing Vermont and Downstreet Housing & Community Development, will rehabilitate a historic building to create 14 affordable apartments for low-income Vermonters and four market-rate apartments.

The Vermont Mayors Coalition (VMC) met at the State House yesterday to announce their legislative priorities for 2018. One of their primary goals was to increase the availability and quality of affordable housing. To that end, VMC supports a $125,000 tax credit increase for the Vermont Down Payment Assistance Program, which is administered by Vermont Housing Finance Agency.

Housing partners seeking to improve opportunities for lower income Vermonters described this week why federal tax reform bills would make reaching this goal much harder and hurt Vermont communities. Learn more from these WPTZ and CCTV stories.

The Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition (VAHC), a state leader in housing policy, research and advocacy, issued the following statement last week on the tax bill recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and under consideration in the Senate:

The Children's Literacy Foundation (CLiF) is now accepting applications for our At-Risk Children grant. This free grant opportunity is open to social service providers, early childhood education programs, childcare centers, school-based programs such as ELL classrooms and afterschool programs, family centers, community organizations, shelters, low-income housing and other programs throughout Vermont and New Hampshire that serve low-income or at-risk infants and children up to age 12 (or a segment of that age range).

The Vermont Senate has passed a bill (S.100) to enact a $35 million housing bond to spur the construction and rehabilitation of affordable housing across the State. The bill is now in the House with just a few days to go until adjournment. Recommended in Governor Scott's budget proposal, the housing bond would address a significant need for affordable housing in Vermont, help to alleviate homelessness, house the workforce, and provide expanded homeownership opportunities for Vermonters.

Please join us at the State House in Montpelier on January 5 to renew Vermont's commitment to ending homelessness. The day will include time to meet with lawmakers and experts to discuss effective strategies Vermont could use to conquer remaining challenges in ending homelessness. A vigil will also be held to remember those who have died without homes and the hundreds of Vermonters still searching for safe, secure housing they can afford.

The Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition is co-sponsoring this event with the Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness.

Faced with increasing numbers of low-income renters who lack affordable housing, VHFA and our counterparts from other states are working together to support a bill developed by Washington State Senator Maria Cantwell. The bill calls for a substantial expansion of the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit—the primary financing mechanism for affordable rental housing for the last 30 years.